Crédit Agricole continues to innovate through its Open Banking platform, becoming the first universal bank to launch two solutions for micro-entrepreneurs and sole proprietors. These solutions are based on the technology of the neobank Blank and the expertise of Okali, its banking-as-a-service offering.
In a market with 4 million self-employed people, the Propulse by Crédit Agricole and LCL Essentiel Pro offers, which start at €8 a month, provide micro-entrepreneurs and sole proprietors with a no-commitment, 100% digital business account along with non-banking management services to help them save time on administrative tasks, such as managing expense reports, creating quotes and invoices and, in the near future, depositing capital online. These are the first offers of their kind by a bank and enable the pre-calculation, remote reporting and automated direct payment of taxes to URSSAF.
These offers will be regularly supplemented with new services while letting users take advantage, as needed, of banking offers which include in-branch support and financing solutions, all while retaining the tools they use to manage their banking.
Propulse by CA and LCL Essentiel Pro were designed as part of a tech partnership with Blank, a professional neobank developed by the startup studio La Fabrique by CA.
This innovative approach, which is unique in the traditional banking sector, is part of the Crédit Agricole Group's drive to accelerate its momentum in the business market. By 2019, La Fabrique by CA had already created the Yapla solution, a payment and management platform for all Crédit Agricole and LCL client NGOs.
"The success of Blank, a neobank established with a true entrepreneurial spirit, has inspired the Group to work differently, and to offer new products and services that are unparalleled in France in order to round out the range provided by its banking networks. As such, Blank is a laboratory for shared innovation. This solution, combined with the expertise of Crédit Agricole and LCL, enhances the Group's digital offering for businesses," highlights Jean-Paul Mazoyer, Chair of La Fabrique by CA and Deputy CEO of Crédit Agricole S.A. in charge of the Technology and Digital division.
"With Propulse by CA, Crédit Agricole's digital business account, we are proud to provide an offering designed around the expectations of new entrepreneurs and connected to the regions in which we operate. By creating a service offering that goes beyond managing day-to-day banking, we aim to simplify the administrative management of their businesses with innovative and exclusive technological solutions", says Serge Magdeleine, Chair of Propulse and CEO of the Alpes Provence Regional Bank.
"Essentiel Pro rounds out LCL's range of services and is part of a strategy to build loyalty among its business customers. LCL – the bank for entrepreneurs – designed the offering like a neobank with non-banking management services, but with the reinsurance of a major bank, as well. This will enable us to win over and retain the new generation of self-employed people, who are our future business owners, and to assert our position as the bank for entrepreneurs while accelerating the digital transformation of this market", says Yann Lhuissier, Head of Markets & Clients and member of the LCL Executive Committee.
